Donald Hardman: Difference between revisions

Born in [[Lancashire]], Hardman joined the [[Royal Flying Corps]] in 1917 and was posted to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] the following year. He flew [[Sopwith Dolphin]]s with [[No. 19 Squadron RAF|No. 19 Squadron]], earning the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] for his fighting skills. Between the wars he served with [[No. 31 Squadron RAF|No. 31 Squadron]] in [[India]] and [[No. 216 Squadron RAF|No. 216 Squadron]] in Egypt. A [[Wing commander (rank)|wing commander]] at the outbreak of World War II, Hardman was attached to the [[Air Ministry]] for several years before being posted in 1944 to [[South-East Asian theatre of World War II|South East Asia]], where he commanded No. 232 (Transport) Group during the [[Burma campaign]]. He was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1940 and a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] in 1945, and was also [[mentioned in despatches]].

Finishing the war an [[air commodore]], Hardman served successively as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, Commandant of [[RAF Staff College, Bracknell]], and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of [[RAF Home Command|Home Command]], before becoming RAAF CAS in January 1952. He was appointed a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] the same year. As CAS he was responsible for reorganising the RAAF's [[RAAF area commands|geographically based command-and-control system]] into a functional structure. Returning to Britain, he became [[Air Member for Supply and Organisation]] in May [[1954]], and was promoted to [[air chief marshal]] the following year. He was raised to [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]] in January 1958, shortly before his retirement.